The 1st XI faced the stiffest challenge of their Championship campaign so far against a determined Drummond Trinity at Myreside. DT threw away the form guide and put us in to bat. Our top order were perhaps surprised to be offered the opportunity and didn’t live up to their recent strong form. After 17 overs we were 52/3. Our middle order upped the ante with Donnie making an excellent 81 off 91, his best score for us yet, aided by 36 each from Tom Wylie and Kenneth Rae in his 50th 1st XI appearance. Our tail also wagged pretty vigorously with Oli, Cal Martin and G Carr averaging a 138% strike rate between them. We finished our 50 overs on 253/8.

After Donnie’s customary first over wicket, DT dug in with a series of useful partnerships to take the score to get to 203/6 in the 42nd over. Ashrith Darapureddy made 69 off 85 including 5 fours and 3 sixes before being bowled by Tom Wylie. Praveen Gupta fell just short of his half century on 46, lbw to Donnie. The next couple of wickets fell quickly to take the score to 212/8 with just over five overs remaining. The required rate of just over eight per over was a little lower than we’d have liked. The team breathed a lot easier when Tom Wylie took the ninth wicket with the score on 231 and only thirteen balls remaining. Donnie topped and tailed the innings, taking the last wicket to give us a 20 run win, our fourth in a row in the league, the first time we’ve managed such a run since 2017.

The 2s travelled to Inverleith to face Stewart’s Melville 2s. Winning the toss, we opted to bat first, for the first time this season. Alex, Kevin and George all got good starts, though the scoring was slow as the Stew Mel bowlers kept it tight. Rory may have been a touch unlucky not to get more time at the crease, given lbw, at which point we were 83/5 with just over 26 overs gone. Matt Brian, in his first game back, then put on a fine 51* as well as keeping wicket very nicely. Rob Loomes and Mati Yar kept the rate up so that we finished 185/7 from our 45 overs, a slightly disappointing return on such a glorious afternoon for batting. Our bowlers were economical too, at least for the first 35 overs, with Rizwan taking 1/18 off his 9 overs, Alex 1/25 off his 7.4 and Vikash 0/22 off 6, for example. Wickets were hard to come by though as SM’s batters stuck in, getting to 119/3 after 34 overs. With wickets in hand, they were able to accelerate towards the end, surpassing our total to finish 186/4 after 41.4 overs.

The 3s played host to MDAFS 3s at Craiglockhart and, winning the toss, chose to bat first. And bat they did, scoring more runs in their innings than in their first three matches combined. Every batter bar one hit double figures, with Jamie Tucker opening and leading from the front, making his first half century for the club, a fine 65 off 75 balls. Laurie Cox (33) and Vishal Chawan (34) both made important contributions. We managed a very solid 232/7 from our 40 overs. The MDAFS scorecard followed a similar pattern, with their opener Debaditya Choudhury getting 62 and lots of double-digit scores on the card. Andy Smith, their captain, saw them home with a vital 36* off 31 balls, including 3 fours and 2 sixes to reach 237/5 with just three balls remaining in the innings.

The junior cohort were given a prominent role in the 4s game away at Leith Links, playing Leith FAB 4. Ewan put Leith in to bat and let Ludvig, Hamish, Zach and John, none older than fifteen, bowl the first 20 overs between them. Each took a wicket, as did the four more senior bowlers who followed, including 3/28 off 6 for Fraser Kinloch and 2/26 off 7 for Alan Borthwick. Combined, we bowled Leith out for 141 in 34.2 overs. Unhappily for us, Leith’s bowler Asad Shaqeel hit a purple patch (I hope that’s what it was, you can’t always be sure on the Links) and took 5/31 including four of our first five wickets. At 23/5 things looked dire indeed. Ludvig (11) and Ross Millar (12) helped steady the ship a little and captain Ewan Robertson showed some flair hitting four boundaries before being the last wicket to fall on 18 personally and at 87 for the team.

Sadly, the Women didn’t get a game this week as MDAFS conceded in advance, being unable to raise a team. We look forward to hosting Grampian Thistles at Craiglockhart this Sunday.

Midweek we also played our second Masterton game of the season, visiting Portgower Place to face EPL top-3 side Grange. Given the choice, we opted to do our thing and bat first. Oli Hairs showed his flair for the format hitting 7 fours and 7 sixes in an impressive 77 off 31 balls. The rest of our batters got the message and managed suitable strike rates too, notably Bruce’s 26 off 20. We finished on 194/6 after our 20 overs. Angus Brown for Grange almost matched Oli, making 75 off 31 to set a good early tone. Jack Jarvis backed him up with 63* and Charlie Peet’s 28* helped Grange get over the line in the final over with seven wickets in hand, 195/3 off 19.1 overs.